Wednesday, March 13, 2013

A byproduct of being an old team is the higher tendency for players to get injured. The Yankees have walked a fine line in that department in the last two seasons as they've aged, and their ability to adapt and overcome those injuries has been what's kept them at the top of the AL East while they've battled Father Time. This season, that battle is going to rage on like it never has before. The Yankees would be wise to load up on the Raid, Icy Hot, and batteries for the MRI machine (they run on batteries, right?), because the injury bug is going to be a fixture in the clubhouse in 2013.

The Tigers released outfielder Brennan Boesch this morning, and in their never-ending quest to add every replacement level outfielder available the Yankees have already been connected to him. Boesch is a good fit on paper- 27 years old, lefty swinger with power, can play both outfield corners- but a more detailed look into his statistical breakdown raises some red flags, three to be exact.

A ticket stub from a Spring Training game usually doesn't mean much, especially with the types of lineups the Yankees have been putting on the field lately. Those with tickets today's game, however, might be wise to hang onto them and tell their kids and grandkids about the time they got to see three of the best in Yankee history play.

The scheduled starter for today's ST game against the Phillies is Andy Pettitte, making his 2013 debut. Also scheduled to pitch today is Mariano Rivera, making his second spring appearance as he continues his comeback from last year's ACL injury. And scheduled to start at shortstop, for the first time this spring and for the first time since breaking his ankle in the ALCS, is Derek Jeter. The three remaining pieces of the Core Four, 15 World Series rings between them, the last links to the late 90s Yankee dynasty, and they'll all be on the field today.

These three are easily the greatest Yankees of the last 35 years, and the number of times that we're likely to see all three of them play in the same game has to be down in the single digits. With Mo already set to retire after this season, Andy probably heading down the same path, and all three guys being injury risks in their own way, it's hard to predict exactly how many more times this will occur. Today it's practically a guarantee that all three of them will be in the same game, though, and that's a cool little footnote in Yankee history. It doesn't matter who wins or loses today's game, but there's definitely a little more meaning to it with these three scheduled to play together.